Obama raises money as polls sink

SEATTLE — If there was any question about whether President Barack Obama's five-state, three-day cross-country trip was a campaign swing, the answer came Tuesday, when he posed for a snapshot with a baby, ordered a turkey sandwich and “something sweet to go” as the cameras rolled at a local bakery and attacked the Republican agenda.

Though he expressed rock-solid confidence that his economic policies are taking the country in the right direction, Obama warned the crowd that it could take a couple more years before the economy is healthy again.

"The truth is it’s going to take a few years to fully dig ourselves out of this recession," Obama said. "Anybody who tells you otherwise is just looking for your vote. But here’s what I can tell you: After 18 months, I have never been more confident that our nation is headed in the right direction."

Obama’s view, however, is at odds with a Gallup poll Tuesday that a majority of those surveyed disapprove of his performance as president. With the economy topping voters’ concerns — and midterm elections less than three months away — only 42 percent of Americans think Obama is doing a good job, according to the poll.

The latest poll results mark the first time Obama's numbers have fallen that far in the Gallup daily tracking. But that hasn’t stopped Democrats like Sen. Patty Murray of Washington who was happy to embrace him. Obama’s approval rating in the state has dropped since he took office, but it still hovers around 50 percent. “We cannot take a single vote for granted this year,” Murray said in her introduction of Obama. “All of the change we have worked so hard for is on the line.”

By Wednesday, Obama will have appeared at six fundraisers so far this week. On Tuesday, he was expected to raise $1.3 million for Murray’s campaign and the state Democratic Party. After the Westin event, he spoke at a fundraiser at the Seattle home of RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser.

“This is the time when you want to be president because we are at one of these inflection points in our history," Obama said at the fundraiser in Glaser’s home. But the challenges — war, a faltering economy, obstructionist Republicans, vacillating poll numbers — will test the patience of his supporters, the president said.

Nevertheless, "If you stay with us, if you’re willing to see this thing through, I’m confident that we’re going to be able to look back, despite all the ups and all the downs, we’re going to be able to look back and say that what we did mattered," Obama said, to applause. "This was a moment that counted; and that you were standing there to be counted at that critical moment in this country’s history."